A year, huh?
A year didn’t feel like a year, nor did the four past at UCLA feel like four passed. Seasons do come and go, pursuits done pursuing and yet still running, going no where fast. Though some may doubt me, I don’t forget people, or blogs for that matter. It is quintessentially me to prioritize, not in importance, but by access. World views and religious views change—Christ is at the center but the world has spun and has landed on another venue, another population, and another chapter of occupation.
For those who wonder, ICA is singular and quantized. You can bring it with you but its share-ability as disseminated knowledge is poor. Learn the disciplines well, and be courageous when you leave because those are the two things that buttress your personal walk. Also, learn your trade well and do it with character for that is your entry. Here in Loma Linda, religion is practiced but not digested. Hardened hearts from ritualism-so it has been doubly important to buttress my faith with discipline and courage.
Courage for opening up world views; simply, to see God in more ways than what we are used to. ICA may already deem that as teetering between ignorance and laxity—but as for me and my faith, if they proclaim Christ as their Saviour, I could care less if they quote from Joseph Smith or Ellen White, or whomever they consider to be people who are God sent. In reality our perception of who Mormons and Adventists think their “prophets” are is very inaccurate and exaggerated. If I can quote Erick Loh, or Pastor Min, there is the same “defiance” of straight-edged truth. If the gift of prophecy, whether interpreted literally or symbolically is endowed to those God wills, then I have no trouble saying that I have met prophets in my life time and learn a great deal from their faiths and works. Focusing on religious idiosyncrasies leads only to division.
Joyful? Yes. I am enjoying school, colleagues, faculty, and the Lord who made it all possible. Apart from oral pathology, NBDE preparation, and making little figures out of every dental material I can manipulate, the glimpses of God are as evident as ever. Bible in the morning, Spurgeon in the evening. A year has passed, much has changed, but nothing really has changed. What great disciplines that ICA instilled. I am thankful surviving thus far with these disciplines.
Some of my favorite things…Teeth and Totoro
